Thursday, March 11, 2010

When I Kept Silent, My Bones Wasted Away. (Psalm 32:3)


What is today? Thursday? Sheesh, I lose track of time so quickly...

Gathering my tax papers and docs and receipts to drop off at my tax guy on Friday. Wish he wasn't so expensive. Is $600 normal for tax preparation? Wish I knew how to do it myself. Just seems like a bit much...

I went to Starbucks today to try out their new Dark Cherry Mocha Frappucino. The Verdict: It is delightful! In fact, it was scrumptrillescent!



I don't know if you've ever seen that SNL skit, but unless you know The Actor's Studio and who Charles Nelson Reilly was, you have no idea how spot-on both of those impressions are. Who knew Alec Baldwin could do such an amazing impression, eh! Hilarious. That guy was really like that!

I made a joke a few weeks back about an Ultra-compact model of Smart Car that was kind of in poor taste (considering someone had died in that crash), but I saw this today, and I thought I'd share it here as well...


That's a two-person electric commuter car called a "Lumeneo Smera." It's actually going into production. I don't know if it will be street-legal in the US... probably just a Euro car. Still, I don't know that I'd ever feel comfortable tooling around in that "car"... unless it was an indoor car, and I just used it in my mansion to run down the hallway to the bathroom... Anyway, HERE is the article, if you want more info.

Though you'll probably find this one more interesting...


That is not a Photoshopped picture. It's a legitimate product, called a Uno Electric Motorcycle. Is that insane, or what? Yanni would get a kick out of that. A motorized unicycle. HERE is an article about it (one of many, if you want to Google it yourself). There are more pictures of it there.

And while I'm on the topic of taking things to the extreme, here's a pic of a waterslide some of you might enjoy dropping in on...


I don't know where it is, but if you're intrigued by it, nose around online, eh! As for me, just looking at it makes me want to find a nice bench to sit on...

I'm trying a new piece of writing software, called yWrite, to see if it can help me keep track of my novel, and the storylines and characters, etc. I could actually write the novel in the software itself, if I wanted, but I think I'll do what some people suggest, and write it in Word and copy/paste it in, as needed. I like the feature set in it... you can designate deadlines and daily goals, set placeholder chapter and scene points for parts not yet written, drag-and-drop chapters/scenes around to rearrange things. It tracks which characters are used in which scenes, whose point of view each scene is from, and it generates storyboards automatically, so I could see at-a-glance the way storylines overlap. There are other cool features as well.

Anyway, I'll let you all know how it goes. Still making good progress on the first draft, but the more I write, the more I want to add. I keep fighting the urge to expand minor characters into major ones...

One last Funny Picture, and then I'm out of here. This one is for the console/Street Fighter fans among us...


If I need to explain it, you won't think it's funny, sorry. You'll either get it or not.

Until tomorrow (or so), adios!

Dave

8 comments:

MT said...

Uno Cycles for all.

Anonymous said...

Feedback on Warbreaker:
Liked the way it unfolded. The "Breath" concept was interesting. Surprised that the people were so "human," (I think I expected the "Fantasy" genre to have more alien-like characters :). Other than the flawed development of Vivenna character/story line, interesting mix of people. Definitely not the best book I have read but enjoyable and held my interest (except the Vivenna parts) all the way through. Thanks for the recommendation. Perhaps I'll try another....

logankstewart said...

Dang! $600 for tax prep?! Surely you're joking. The most I've ever paid was $120. Of course, if you're self-employed and have your own business thing, I have no idea what you should expect.

I've always loved that SNL skit. And you're right, both actors do tremendous jobs on their impressions.

Looking at that water slide terrifies me. As I've gotten older I no longer want to do those sorts of things.

That Street Fighter sign is clever.

David Wagner said...

Mattson: I wonder how much those will sell for?

Ann: Glad you liked Warbreaker. Yeah, it was a good, solid, relatively-easy read, I think. Not the best, but really good. Thanks for dropping by with your feedback.

Logan: Yeah, self-employed plus a part owner of our family rug cleaning business... I guess that messy enough to charge 6 bills for. I consider part of the money as an investment of sorts... if I ever get audited, I want to have a heavy-weight in my corner instead of confronting the feds solo...

I tried to find the video of Will Ferrell as Harry Carey doing Space the Infinite Frontier, but couldn't find it... I love that one too...

Krista said...

Awesome slide! I wonder if I'd be brave enough though...

Abbie said...

I am definitely NOT brave enough for that slide! yikes...
Dave, your starting picture is amazing! I want to be a nun and live in that church. How beautiful!
The yWrite thing sounds really cool! I like the concept! Keep up the good work! I can't wait to read it :)

Paula Titus said...

You'd never get me on that slide. :) The little car looks kind of cute though, but I have a feeling if I were driving that in traffic I'd feel naked.

Unknown said...

Great SNL clip. Baldwin is very funny. I love his timing and delivery on 30 Rock.

I think I would go on that water slide ride except for the massive wedgie it would probably give me
: (